Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has said that he will speak to Mohamed Salah before determining whether the Egyptian will feature at Anfield against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Salah was omitted from Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League squad that beat Internazionale Milano 1-0 on Tuesday in the wake of his comments to media after the 3-3 draw at Leeds United last weekend. The player questioned his future at the club after being benched for three Premier League matches in a row by Slot.
The Brighton match would be Salah’s last for Liverpool before leaving to represent Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which runs through to 18 January.
When Slot was asked in his pre-match press conference on Friday whether his star player from last season would feature against Brighton, he replied: “I will have a conversation with Mo this morning and the outcome of that conversation determines how it will look tomorrow.”
Slot was also asked about what “he needs from Salah to resolve the situation”.
He replied: “What I need is a conversation with him and I think the next time I speak about Mo should be with him and not in here. You can keep on trying [to ask about it] but there is not much more to say about it [other than] that I speak to him today and, like I said, the outcome of that conversation determines how things will look tomorrow.”
Much media speculation has focused on whether Salah can do more defensively on the pitch to win back his starting place on the right of Liverpool’s attack. But Slot didn’t answer this suggestion directly.
“You can try it in multiple ways, but I think I just said that the next time I speak about him should be with him,” he said.
“We've spoken a lot in the last week after the Sunderland game[on Wednesday 3 December]. I think there have been a lot of conversations between his representatives and ours, our representatives and him, between him and me after the Sunderland game – and today I will speak to him again.”
Asked whether he wants Salah to remain at the club, what with the transfer window opening on 1 January, Slot replied: “The next time I talk about Mo should be with him. I have no reasons not wanting him to stay, if that is a little bit of an answer to your question.”
Widespread media reports since the press conference have suggested that Salah will return to the Liverpool squad for Saturday's match.